Chapter 12 - The Mother Who Chose a Side)
Of course Marcus followed her.
Victoria had taken one of the family's older cars, a vehicle without modern tracking.
But she had forgotten about the toll transponder.
Nathan traced it north.
Wisconsin.
Again.
Rebecca studied the route.
"She's heading toward Lake Geneva."
"The original facility?"
"Maybe."
Marcus looked at Adrian.
"Can he identify it?"
"He's refusing to speak."
Marcus walked into the room.
Adrian looked exhausted.
Marcus placed Lily's broken pendant on the table.
"Victoria has one like this."
Adrian stared.
"Where is she going?"
No response.
Marcus leaned closer.
"Your father is dead. Senator Wren will sacrifice you. Elias Vale has disappeared. You are lying in a bed with nobody coming to save you."
Adrian's eyes hardened.
"You think you're different from them?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because my daughter isn't an asset."
Adrian looked toward the ceiling.
Marcus waited.
Finally:
"There's a house."
"Where?"
"Lake Geneva."
"Address."
Adrian closed his eyes.
"Your father owned it through a trust."
Nathan found it eleven minutes later.
The property was isolated behind forty acres of woodland.
Marcus, Rebecca and Claire reached the perimeter before dawn.
Victoria's car was hidden behind a maintenance building.
Marcus wanted to rush inside.
Claire stopped him.
"Look."
Two vehicles near the house.
Armed guards.
Not Victoria's people.
Marcus circled through the woods.
A cellar window stood partially open.
They entered.
Inside they found medical supplies.
Old Aurelia files.
Photographs of Elena from childhood.
And a wall covered with pictures of Lily.
School.
Park.
Zoo.
Home.
Marcus stared at them.
Someone had watched his daughter for years.
Rebecca whispered, "This is Wren's site."
Footsteps upstairs.
Marcus moved toward the stairs.
A woman screamed.
Victoria.
Gunshot.
Marcus ran.
He reached the main room.
Victoria stood beside a sofa, blood on her burgundy coat.
A guard lay unconscious.
And across the room stood Elena.
Marcus stopped.
Four years vanished.
Elena was thinner.
Her dark hair was shorter.
A scar crossed one temple.
But she was alive.
Her eyes met his.
Neither moved.
"Marcus."
He crossed the room.
He did not ask questions.
He simply pulled her into his arms.
Elena broke.
For several seconds she could not breathe.
Then she began sobbing against his chest.
Marcus closed his eyes.
Four years of grief became something physical inside him.
Pain.
Relief.
Anger.
Love.
All of it at once.
He touched her face.
"Is it really you?"
Elena laughed through tears.
"I'm sorry."
He kissed her forehead.
Then heard movement.
Victoria raised a gun toward the doorway.
"Down!"
More shots.
Marcus pulled Elena behind the sofa.
Claire returned fire.
Rebecca dragged Victoria into cover.
Minutes later, the remaining guards fled.
Silence returned.
Marcus looked at his mother.
Her left arm was bleeding.
Elena stared at Victoria.
"You came back."
Victoria laughed weakly.
"Apparently I am developing a conscience late in life."
Marcus looked between them.
"You rescued her?"
Victoria nodded.
"Adrian moved Elena after Milwaukee. I followed one of his men."
Marcus's anger had not disappeared.
"You expect that to erase four years?"
"No."
Victoria's eyes filled.
"I expect nothing from you."
Elena touched Marcus's hand.
"She saved my life tonight."
Marcus looked at his wife.
"Why didn't you come home?"
Elena's expression collapsed.
"I tried."
"When?"
"So many times."
Her eyes moved toward Victoria.
"Every time I escaped, someone threatened Lily."
Marcus closed his eyes.
"Why didn't you tell me before the crash?"
"I wanted to."
Elena began crying again.
"But I had already learned Senator Wren had people around you."
"Who?"
"I didn't know all of them."
She looked toward Nathan's absent position as if remembering something.
"Some were inside your company."
Marcus froze.
"Who?"
Elena swallowed.
"Your chief legal officer."
Marcus stared.
"Daniel Frost?"
Elena nodded.
Daniel had worked beside Marcus for nine years.
He had attended Lily's birthdays.
He had spoken at Elena's funeral.
Marcus's phone began ringing.
Nathan.
Marcus answered.
"Tell me."
Nathan sounded breathless.
"We've got a problem."
"What?"
"Daniel Frost just entered the safe house."
Marcus felt ice enter his veins.
"Lily?"
"Claire's sister moved her twenty minutes ago."
Marcus exhaled.
"Good."
"But Daniel wasn't alone."
"Who was with him?"
Nathan paused.
May you like
Then said:
"Senator Jonathan Wren."
